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LA City Council Moves to Ban Fracking

"We’ve learned a great deal about the problems with fracking."

On Wednesday, the Los Angeles City Council moved to ban fracking within the city limits. “This is putting into effect what we voted on this week,” said former Los Angeles Police Department Chief and current Councilman Bernard Parks. The California Coastal Commission is also considering heavy regulation of the practice.

Fracking has become popular in California despite state efforts to crack down on the practice, in which drillers break up oil shale by injecting a chemical mix into the earth. According to the Associated Press, fracking has taken place at least 203 times off the coast of Long Beach, Seal Beach, and Huntington Beach over the last 20 years. Despite a dearth of evidence suggesting environmental impact from fracking,

The Los Angeles City Council vote was unanimous – 10-0 – to tell the Planning Department and Department of Water and Power to create rules preventing fracking. The council said it would be coordinating as well with other major cities to make the fracking ban more widespread. “We’ve learned a great deal about the problems with fracking,” Parks stated, “and it is because of these grass-roots groups that we’ve been educated.”